Here We Go Again
by BiJTheWriter
Summary: The American dream. Often idealized as having the perfect picket fence. The perfect kid. The perfect spouse. The perfect house. It is always when everything seems to be going right, that there's something so astoundingly unexpected that sends that perfect life to a screeching halt. The question is, how does Olivia Pope handle such normal familial chaos? (TUMBLR PROMPT)
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! Here's another Tumblr prompt that is from **babycakesbriauna**. It tucks at my heartstrings every time I read it. Enjoy!

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**Despite the warm summer air, Olivia still had the chubby newborn bundled up. Fitz looked at the sleeping bundle in the car seat he was carrying. "Livvie, she looks like she's roasting."**

The look on her face let him know that he should stop speaking immediately but when she turned to continue walking he moved the blanket over a little to give his baby girl some reprieve.

Harper had barely been home a month when she got, according to the doctor, a very common viral infection. In simple terms, a cold. But her mucus filled nose and small fevers had induced panic in Olivia and caused her to go into helicopter mom overdrive. It didn't help that the baby had yet to gain any color so she turned bright red at any sign of overheating which promptly earned her the nickname 'Rosie'.

They crossed the small parking lot and made their way into the freezing hospital lobby, where Fitz immediately adjusted the light jacket that he was wearing. He knew that the maneuver didn't escape her attention as soon when he caught her rolling her eyes.

It had been like this for nearly two weeks. Two weeks of eye rolling and deep sighs and pointed looks. The only time she'd directly said anything to him was to kick him out of their bedroom and to inform him of this appointment fifteen minutes before she was about to leave the house when he confronted her.

"You know you'll have to at least pretend like you care whether I exist or not once we get off this elevator." Fitz warned, trying to keep his voice steady as they walked into the metal box so that she wouldn't hear the fear in his voice that she really didn't.

He got exactly what he had expected which was silence and a sharp look as she faced the doors and refused to look at him again. As soon as the doors opened she was a different person. Or really just the person that he hadn't seen in a while. A smile took over her face as she walked straight to the counter to inform the clerk of their arrival and then she sat next to him with a clipboard in hand, filling it out quickly.

"Livvie-"

"Can you pick up Harper? She's starting to whine."

This time it's Fitz who rolls his eyes, mumbling under his breath. Her avoidance was another thing that he'd gotten used to within the last few weeks but before he could follow her instruction a nurse came out to guide them into a private exam room where the silence felt louder without the soft elevator music.

"We have to talk eventually." Fitz tries again as Olivia slips off her clothes and hands them to him before slipping on the gown left for her. "You can't spend the rest of our lives ignoring me."

"Fitz, don't act like you don't know why I'm angry." Olivia bites back, her sharp voice causing Harper to whimper from underneath all of the blankets in her lavender car seat.

She's in Fitz' arms in an instant and her eyes are shut before he can even get her into a comfortable position in his arms. When his eyes finally meet Olivia's again, they're filled with longing so instead of retorting he just holds her gaze and tries to convey as much of an apology as he possibly can.

The doctor comes in with a nurse before either of them can break the silence and the effervescent smile is back on her face. Fitz shakes his head subtly. If anyone should have been a politician it was her.

"Ms. Pope, President Grant." The doctor nods at both of them before stopping directly in front of Olivia. "You guys are my favorite patients but I didn't think I'd see you back here so soon."

Olivia's smile falters as she nods, briefly looking at Fitz before turning her attention back to the doctor but Fitz answers before she has to.

"Well, no offense, Dr. Burgess, but we weren't really planning to see you either."

She nods her head chuckling, the thick curls of her ponytail shaking with her small frame. Fitz liked her. In many ways she reminded him of his wife. She was thin, small, well spoken, and had a sneaky sense of humor. It was hard not to really.

"I know, I know." She replies, gesturing for the nurse to come forward. "Which is why we're going to take some blood to make sure that you _really are_ pregnant and then we'll go from there."

The nurse takes that as her cue to begin and starts preparing Olivia's left arm for the needle.

"And while she does that," Dr. Burgess continues, taking the small purple frames from her face and tucking them into her pocket. "You, Mr. President, are going to hold your wife's hand while I hold little Miss. Harper."

Fitz laughs at the smile that she gives him, the small gap in her teeth adding charm to her bold personality. Nevertheless, he follows her orders and tucks his sleeping daughter into her arms and moves to Olivia's side. She's still not looking at him but she burrows her face in his chest for support and squeezes his hand as the needle breaks skin.

The room is silent while the nurse works, letting the vile fill up and when she's done Olivia pulls away like she'd ended up in Fitz' arms by accident.

"It wouldn't be horrible if you were pregnant again." Fitz whispers to her, hoping not to disturb the cooing coming from their doctor about how chubby Harper's legs were. "Look at that kid, we did a good job."

Olivia looks at him incredulously.

"We shouldn't have kids because they're cute. What kind of logic is that?"

"All I meant was that she's not a bad looking kid. We've both seen worse so...I mean, it wouldn't be horrible if we had another one."

Olivia shakes her head, a small smile coming across her face.

"I thought she'd have a little more color. She's so pale."

Fitz bursts into laughter at Olivia's admittance. Harper had a light tint to her skin but curled in Dr. Burgess' arms, whose skin was such a perfect shade of brown that Crayola would have a hard time matching it, she looked like she could blend into the moon.

His laughter catches the doctor's attention, causing her to move closer with the baby.

"If you don't mind me injecting my two cents, having kids really close together like this usually seems like a pain at first but they always have someone to play with, you get all of the hard things out of the way at the same time instead of two or three years apart and when you get tired of them, they go off to college at the same time." Her gaze softens as she takes in Olivia's face. "And you really have nothing to worry about."

Olivia nods her head at the reassurance but it's not until the doctor hands her the baby and excuses herself to go check on the test results that her body calms completely.

The room is silent again as Olivia traces her daughter's features. She was still so small that her face changed every day. Sometimes she'd look at her and she'd be a carbon copy of Fitz and then the next day Olivia and then the day after a perfect blend of the both of them. She could stare at her forever and never tire of it.

"She doesn't love me as much as she loves you." Olivia whimpers into the quiet room, her voice filled with aching as she stares at the perfect little girl in her arms. "She only stops crying when you pick her up and when she smiles she smiles at you. She falls asleep in your arms and when she wakes up she looks for you. The only time she's comfortable with me is when I'm feeding her or she's sleeping and if you could feed her or she knew I was holding her when she was sleeping, she'd probably cry then, too."

Fitz' expression is pained as he looks at his wife. He knew she'd been thinking it. He knew it every time Harper whimpered and immediately quieted at his touch or when she wiggled incessantly when he entered her room. It was the looks that Olivia gave him. He could feel the hurt radiating off of her when Harper quieted as soon as he picked her up at night but cried for twenty minutes when Olivia did.

"Livvie, she doesn't love one of us more." He tries soothing her but really he has no idea what to say.

She doesn't respond to him, though, continuing on her monologue.

"What happens if I really am pregnant and we have two kids that hate me? What then?" Her voice begins to rise, almost to the point of panic. "How am I supposed to be a good mother to two kids if I can't even get the first one to acknowledge me? Harper doesn't even like me!"

The shrillness of her hysterical voice wakes up the baby and she instantaneously bursts into tears which doesn't help Olivia's state at all. Fitz shakes his head, hoping that the rocking motion that Olivia's started will calm them both but it doesn't and before he knows it, Olivia has passed Harper to him and buried her face in her hands. He's not holding her for more than fifteen seconds when her crying softens to whimpers and no more than thirty when the whimpering peters out altogether.

"See!" Olivia shouts into her hands, muffling her voice.

Fitz can her how choked up she is, see the moisture on the gown from where the tears are slipping between her fingers. He sets the baby back into her car seat and slips the custom pacifier into her mouth before turning to attend to his wife. Fitz uses his fingers to gently pry hers away from her face and begins kissing the tears from her face as soon as he can see it. By the time her face is dry and her breathing has returned to normal, Dr. Burgess is walking into the door with a sheet of paper in her hands, pausing in the door frame at the position of the couple.

Fitz was holding Olivia by her wrists and she was staring into his eyes sorrowfully.

"Do you need me to come back?" She asks in a soft voice, filled with compassion.

"No, it's fine." Olivia croaks, removing her hands from Fitz' and sitting back on the exam table to face the doctor.

She looks at Fitz for a confirmation and he nods, knowing that Olivia wouldn't want to draw attention to the fact that she'd been crying.

"Well, I don't know if you're ready for a congratulations or not but you are, in fact, pregnant."

Olivia and Fitz nod, avoiding each others eyes as the doctor continues on with a small list of instructions that they'd heard for the first time barely a year prior. When she's finally done, she offers the couple a good luck and some prenatal pills before vacating the room to allow Olivia to put her clothes back on. It was kind of ridiculous how the hospital wanted her naked for a simple blood test, she laments as she jumps back into her jeans, thinking of anything to keep her mind off of her the fact that her new pregnancy was indeed a pregnancy. There was still a small part of her that was hoping that the fifteen home tests that she took within the last couple of weeks were wrong.

Once Olivia's clothes are back on and Harper is properly buckled back in her seat, they make their way from the exam room in silence, still avoiding each other when Dr. Burgess' small figure quickly makes its way to them.

"I almost forgot," She breathes trying to catch her breath as she hands over a small bag. "It's for Harper. I wasn't lying when I said that you are my favorites. It's just a small gift."

Olivia takes it from her since Fitz is holding the car seat and begins searching through the bag pulling out a personalized elephant pacifier, a monogrammed elephant blanket, and a hand stitched elephant stuffed animal with Harper's initials on the left foot.

"I just really like elephants." She pronounces, her voice high pitched in excitement and her gapped smile coming out to play again.

It makes them laugh at how genuine she is.

"Plus, I figured it wouldn't be _too _much of a problem since you're republican." She laughs, shooting a look at Fitz.

"Hey, you don't see me objecting." Fitz jokes with her but before he can continue Olivia pipes up.

"What he means to say is that we love it without any hidden political agenda."

They all chuckle before the couple thanks her again and she disappears to do her job and then the smiles are gone. They walk with a good foot in between them and not a word or even a glance is passed between the two until later into the night when Fitz finds Olivia hovering over Harper's crib.

"When I look at her I just think about all of the things that I've done wrong in the two and a half months that she's been alive and I don't know how I'm going to do it again. I just keep thinking about how sick she was and even though I was up with her all night and trying to soothe her, I still didn't know how to fix it. I'm her mother and I didn't know how to fix it." She whispers into the dark room, her eyes locked on the tiny human in the crib. "I'm just tired, Fitz. I love her, I do but I can't help but think that I'm putting my life on hold to be a mother. I didn't even want kids before I met you and I'm still not entirely sure that I even _like_ kids. I worked my whole life to get where I am professionally and I can't even go to work because I'm at home being a mom and I feel like I can't complain to anyone because I'm supposed to love this and I feel like I can't talk to you because you _do_ love this. I don't want to sit at home all day and think about arts and crafts projects or make cookies or organize PTA meetings. Harper's already getting the short end of the stick and she doesn't even know it and now I have to bring another kid into this life where I don't give 100% because there will always be a part of me wanting to give fifty of that hundred to my job."

Fitz observes her side profile with the help of the moonlight coming in from the bay window and lets Olivia's confession sink into his mind.

"I'm old."

"What?" She whispers sharply, her head turning to his immediately, shocked at his off topic response.

"I'm old. It's not a speculation, it's a fact. When the kids are graduating high school, I'll be older than some of their friend's grandparents." He nods his head, validating his own statement before he continues. "I just worry that I have ten good years in me where I can run around and be with them before I become the old dad that no one wants anything to do with."

Olivia's eyes search his, waiting for the impending joke.

"I'm afraid too, but not once since Harper was conceived have I ever doubted you as a mother."

Olivia shakes her head and turns back to the crib to study Harper's small face some more.

"What's the first thing that you do when I hug you?"

Olivia ignores him, staring ahead.

"Livvie?" He turns her head towards him. "What's the first thing that you do when I hug you?"

She sighs, answering reluctantly.

"I breathe you in."

"Exactly. She doesn't love me more, she loves the way I smell and she gets happy when I come in the room because I toss her around a little bit and she thinks it's funny while you don't do it because you're scared to hurt her. She gets happy because she knows I'll play with her. The reason she looks for me in the morning is because the week that you got sick I couldn't get her to stop crying so I dipped her pacifier in syrup and gave it to her and now she looks forward to it." He sighs heavily in the middle of his small speech. "She doesn't love me more and you have done nothing that even remotely suggests that you are a bad mother. Harper doesn't think so and I'm sure Gerry won't either."

"Gerry?"

"I think it's going to be boy this time and I was right about Harper so I think you should just go with it."

Olivia nods with a small smile on her face, intertwining her fingers with his and stepping into his arms.

"I love you. I know I haven't said it in a while but I do love you." She murmurs into his chest.

"I love you, too." He pauses, kissing her forehead. "Does that mean that I can move back into our bedroom?"

His face is hopeful as he stares down at her, causing her to chuckle.

"Yes, you can move back into our bedroom." She kisses his lips to seal the declaration but before she can slip her tongue into his mouth he pulls away.

"Does that mean we can have make-up sex? Because, in case you've forgotten, I've been cut off for a while."

Olivia gives him a mirthful look and shakes her head.

"Don't you think we should cool it for a bit, I mean, that _is_ what got us in this situation in the first place. Just because I said you can move back in doesn't mean that I've completely forgiven you for getting me pregnant _twice_ in the last year."

It's his turn to shake his head as he laughs softly, dragging her from Harper's nursery to their bedroom.

"At this point it's not like I can get you pregnant again."

"Fitz, no." She argues but once they're behind the closed door of their bedroom she can feel her resolve melting at the look in his eyes.

He expects her to stick to her word so he moves towards the bed, throwing off his pajama pants and shirt before getting in on his side. She eyes him as he seriously gets ready for bed and waits until his eyes lock with hers before she strips her pants and seductively pulls of her cami.

"You have about an hour and forty-five minutes until I have to feed the baby again."

He nods his head looking like a hopeful puppy at the prospect of having her in bed with him and it makes her giggle as she climbs i,n letting him push her underneath him to kiss her neck.

"I can do a lot in an hour and forty-five minutes and there's a chance that she'll sleep through the night." He mumbles with zeal, causing her to laugh again.

It was almost surreal that they woke up this morning saturated in anger as family of three but they would go to bed cuddled in each others arms, in complete bliss, as a family of four. It was almost like the perfect little slice of heaven.

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**Review?**


	2. Chapter 2

"I've been looking for you."

Olivia turned her head, slightly startled at Fitz's sudden appearance behind her.

"You found me."

Her voice was playful, her head tilted back, her eyes closed, her face the picture of serenity and bliss as her legs moved back and forth in a slow rhythm.

"Well, don't you want to join the party?"

"Why would I do that when we're having our own little party over here?"

At that Fitz couldn't help but smile, moving to take the seat next to her. Fitz turned his head to look behind him at all of the commotion on the other side of the park. It looked like a normal birthday party if one could ignore the various bodyguards that surrounded the perimeter. There was a bounce house and cupcakes and balloons and face paint and of course, about two dozen giggling, screaming, and crying three and four year olds on a sugar rush. He could see why Olivia had snuck away to a part of the land that had a semblance of quiet and the noise was nothing but an echo.

"Where's Harper?" Olivia questioned, opening her eyes for the first time, one of her hands caressing her son's back while the other ran through his hair.

The movement widened Fitz's smile. Olivia never looked better than when she was holding one of his children. All of her fears during pregnancy were unfounded as she took to motherhood, for the second time, with all of the grace in the world. Plus, Gerry was a momma's boy and wanted to be in her arms at all times so it didn't surprise Fitz that Gerry's face was nuzzled between her breast while his arms stayed wrapped around her, his bare feet dangling in the wind. His closed eyes and slumped body would make anyone envious for a nap that looked as good as his.

"I left her behind with her, and I quote, 'bestest friends in the whole wide entire universe' aka the unofficial Grant children, Nadia and Josslyn. Plus, Abby is trying to round up the children to start the cookie decorating as we speak."

Olivia laughed at that, quieting down once the baby in her arms began to stir.

"And what do you have to say for yourself, Mrs. Grant?" Fitz looked down at her bare feet as he continued speaking. "Running away from your only daughter's fourth birthday party to play with her brother could be frowned upon by our party guest."

Olivia shook her head at him, pumping her legs a bit faster.

"I love the swings." She answers with a small smirk on her face. "What can I say? They were calling me and I couldn't say no."

Fitz can tell by the look on her face that there's a story that he hasn't heard behind the proclamation.

"Do tell."

That was all it took for her smile to widen and for her swinging legs to slow to a complete stop before she looked down at the little boy in her arms.

"Remember how I told you that there isn't much that I remember about my mom?" Olivia paused, waiting for his nod. "Well, besides small things like the color of her favorite house robe or what kind of tea she liked, she used to take me to the park every single Sunday when I was a kid."

Fitz's face furrowed in wonder at that.

"Why the park? Why not…I don't know, flying to New York by way of helicopter for breakfast at Tiffany's? That seems more like something your elitist parents would do."

Olivia raised her eyebrows at him, pursing her lips and tilting her head at his question.

"Don't act like Big Jerry never took you out of school to go golfing in Hawaii with his senator pals. We're in the same boat buddy." Olivia retorted, lightly pushing his swing away from hers without jostling the baby in her arms.

"I'm just saying…"

"_Anyway_," Olivia continued with a roll of her eyes. "When we got there we would always head straight for the swings, she would help me sit down, push me a few times and then she would say 'Okay, Livvie just pump your legs like a big girl and I'll be by the trail watching.'"

"What was by the trails?"

The question made Olivia look back at Fitz, her attention previously drawn to her hands that were straightening out the wrinkles in Gerry's striped shirt as she spoke. A smile spread across her face before she answered.

"Dominic. I obviously didn't know about him until I was _way_ older but that was her rendezvous time."

"Great parenting." Fitz joked with an approving nod of his head.

"Yeah well, while my mother was doing whatever she was doing, I had a friend that would come and sit next me on the swings, which were much closer than these are by the way, and he would just talk to me until it was time to go." Olivia closes her eyes with a small chuckle at the memory. "He gave me quite a few of my first kisses in life on those swings."

The amusement on Fitz's face dissipated almost immediately.

"_Excuse me_? Did you just say that that boy _kissed_ you?" He asked in shock, his face changing from delight to shock to anger to stern in mere seconds. "Harper is never going to the park without me. You better not take my daughter to the park without me."

This time Olivia laughed loud enough for Gerry to start in her arms before settling down from the soothing circular pattern that she was rubbing on his back.

"Jacob meant no harm." She replied, her voice full of amusement at his reaction. "I mean, I know for a fact that he still wants to be with me but it was all innocent then. They were just little pecks if that makes you feel any better."

Fitz looked straight ahead, his face scrunched in disbelief.

"What do you mean you know for a fact that he still wants you? You remember his name? You're still in contact with that juvenile pervert?"

Gerry's constant stirring in her arms helped Olivia calm down a bit so that her laughter wouldn't wake him but she almost couldn't help it.

"Calm down before you make me wake up my son."

The mention of Gerry softened Fitz's expression and he ran his hand across his son's back before remembering the conversation at hand.

"Don't try to distract me with this adorable baby, Olivia." He looked back at her as he spoke. "Do I need to have a hit taken out on someone named Jacob."

Olivia waited a moment before answering just to see the agitation on his face grow.

"No, you do not need to have a hit taken out on Congressman Shaw. He does great things and I don't think his constituents would appreciate that."

"Congressman _Jacob_ Shaw?" Fitz tried to hide the surprise on his face at that answer but failed comically. "You mean the man that you helped with his sex tape, the same man that I tried to hit because came to our Christmas party and charmed my little girl by kissing her cheek. _That_Congressman Shaw?"

"The one and only." Olivia answered, trying to keep herself from giggling at Fitz's astonishment. "That's why I wasn't too surprised that he was caught screwing multiple women in his office. That's _just_ like him. He was always a bit promiscuous but I was shipped off to boarding school by my father before he ever got farther than just kissing me."

"I knew I didn't like him." Fitz told her with raised eyebrows and a face filled with certainty. "I've told you before that I don't like the way he looks at you and you brushed me off and now I know that I was absolutely right. He wants to sleep with you. Tell me I'm wrong. I should kick his ass."

"Okay Rocky." She acquiesced with a roll of her eyes. "I know that it makes you feel weird so you don't like to talk about it but when I was about nine and he was kissing me on swings, you were old enough to be a Member of the House. I think you can let this one slide."

Fitz grimaced at the reminder of their age gap.

"Fine…but I can't believe you still think about him."

"Maybe I shouldn't have said anything." She groans, starting to swing again as feels Gerry wake up. "I'm not thinking about _him_ per say I'm just…the swings make me think of how innocent things used to be. Being a child seems so far away at times, especially now that I have my own but then there are moments when it seems like I was just sitting on these swings and my hair was in ponytails and my glasses were pink with flowers on them and boys kissed me because they wanted me to know that they liked me and not because they had some ulterior motive. I don't know. Maybe it's stupid but…the swings make me think of childhood. They were kind of the only thing meant for children that I had with the two nuts that I have to call parents. Y'know?"

The smile on Fitz's face was full of understanding. Sometimes he thought it was a miracle that two people with such a terrible upbringings would find each other and could manage being happy for a lifetime.

"I get it." He said, reaching his hand out to interlock with hers. "I mean I don't think about other women which clearly makes me the better spouse but I get it."

"Whatever." Olivia retorts with another roll of her eyes. "Maybe we should get back to the party? It seems kind of unfair to leave Abby with all of the wrangling."

"We still having a party?" Gerry's muffled voice interrupted, drawing the attention to him.

Fitz reached over, shuffling him from Olivia's arms to his.

"Yeah, Bud, we're still having a party. Did you enjoy your nap?" Fitz murmured into his hair as Gerry plopped his head on his father's shoulder and rubbed his eyes.

"Mhm. Can I still eat cake right now?"

"Yes, you can still have cake." Fitz answered, looking to Olivia to make sure he'd given the right answer.

She laughed under her breath and nodded in confirmation. At that, Gerry picked his head and looked around like he thought the coveted slice of cake might appear out of thin air.

"Okay. I walk by myself now, Daddy." And as soon as his feet hit the ground he was toddling off towards the group of his rambunctious peers.

Fitz and Olivia linked hands, following their son at a more glacial pace, wearing matching smiles from the encounter with their youngest.

"I feel like I've said this before but…we did a good job." Fitz jested, looking at Olivia with a boyish grin. "We should have another one."

Olivia gave him a look that made him laugh.

"I'm going to pretend that you didn't say that." She retorted before joining her daughter and her friends at the wooden picnic table.

Harper's area was covered in melted ice cream and her face was bright red with excitement and heat. Olivia chuckled under her breath at how well deserved her daughter's nickname was.

"Are you having fun Rosie?" Olivia asked her daughter, pushing her headband back.

"Yep." She nodded emphatically. "It's the best! But Momma, Joss and Nadia and me was talking-"

"Joss, Nadia, and _I were_ talking." Fitz corrected from across the table.

"Yeah, I and Joss and Nadia were talking and we 'greed that you forgotted to ask me something for my birthday."

"Oh, did I now?" Olivia giggled at both her form of grammar correction and Fitz's face at the thought he hadn't done everything possible for is little princess on her birthday.

"Uh huh." Harper nodded with a small bite of her cupcake. "Did you know that Joss is a bigger sister now because her mommy had babies? And now Joss can play with her baby sister whenever she wants to."

"Well, what about her baby brother?" Fitz queried, knowing without a doubt that Josslyn's mother had given birth to fraternal twins.

Harper sighed, her expression full of incredulity at the question.

"Daddy, he's a boy and Joss can't play princess with a boy." She sassed as if it should have been obvious. "Anyway, Momma, Nadi's mommy is having a baby too and Nadi thinks it's gonna be a girl."

Nadia jumped into the conversation then to provide back up for her best friend.

"Yeah my Mommy said that maybe if ask for baby sister it'll be a baby sister."

"Is that so?" Olivia asked the girls, hers eyes jumping back and forth between the trio in amusement.

Josslyn had been quiet as she concentrated on her ice cream and cake but her head bobbed the entire time in support of her friends.

"Yep!" Harper answered and then grabbed her mother's hand to make sure she had her full attention. "I think you forgotted to ask me if I wanted one because Joss and Nadia's mommies asked them if they wanted a baby sister or a baby brother and then they gotted one, 'cept for Nadi's 'cause hers isn't here yet, but we thought that maybe you forgotted to ask me and that's way I don't got one yet."

Olivia's eyes widened and she had to literally bite her tongue to keep herself from telling her daughter that she had barely made it here and brother had smaller prospects than she did.

Fitz smirked at Olivia, trying to hide the amusement on his face at this turn of events. He'd been dropping baby hints for weeks and he knew that she was purposely ignoring them. He would have bought Harper anything she asked for in that moment for being so direct.

"Harper, you're already a big sister. You were just too young to remember when Gerry was born."

In an instant Harper's eyes filled with tears and Olivia mentally cursed the genes that copied her expressive eyes and pasted them perfectly on the small faces of her babies.

"But Mommy," Harper whined. "I didn't ask for a brother. I want a sister. Ger is dirty and he's a boy."

As soon as Olivia opened her mouth to scold her daughter for speaking ill about her brother she followed Harper's line of sight and thought better of it as she watched her son dive face first into his bowl of melted ice cream. Luckily, super dad in the flesh already had a response to quiet her tears and demand.

"Princess, why don't you let Mommy think about it and then we'll let you know, okay?"

Harper looked at her mom, drying her face of the few tears that fell.

"Do you promise to think about it, Momma?" She sniffled.

"I promise."

And then Olivia kissed Harper's head, waved bye to the table, and made a swift exit from the area, running straight into Abby.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Abby jested, picking up on the stress that covered her friend's face.

"Is there alcohol here?"

Abby laughed, shaking her head at how dramatic Olivia was being and walked them to a few chairs that were vacant.

"What happened?"

"Fitz's spawn is a grade A actress and I just got the teary eyes and sniffling and 'Mommy why haven't you given me a baby sister during all of your copious amounts of free time?'" Olivia breathed and then rubbed her temples. "Sometimes I ask myself how the hell I got two children that I have, why would I have a third? You know, Fitz worries about Harper kissing boys but I would rather she do that than ask questions that I don't want to answer."

"Do you want my opinion?"

Olivia gave her a pitiful look from between her hands.

"Yes, please."

"Honestly, Liv…it may not be what you want to hear but I think the kids make you calmer. You stress less at work, you're happier when you're pregnant…I don't think it would be a terrible idea." Abby stops and the look Olivia is giving her. "I'm just saying. I would say at least the party ends in about an hour but you still have to go home with the brat and as much as I love being a God mom, I'm not taking home a child that's had three cupcakes, five cookies, and two bowls of ice cream."

"Just give me that camera so I can document this _joyous_ time in our lives."

Abby snickers at her tone but hands her the camera anyway and begins clean up duty hoping, at least for Olivia's sake, that the next hour would go by quickly and much to Olivia's delight it had. Before she knew it they were loading her SUV with presents and shepherding their kids to the car.

"Harper, honey, it's time to get down now." Olivia cooed, rubbing her daughter's back as they reached their cars on the other side of the park.

Harper had given up on the walk a few minutes in and had surprisingly fallen asleep. Olivia sat her down on her side of the car and opened the door for her as Fitz started buckling Gerry in on the other side. Harper looked up at her in confusion.

"Why do I hafta ride with Daddy?" She began to whine, the full, napless day starting to rear its ugly head.

"Baby, my car is full with all of the presents so I'm going to drive my car with all of the party stuff in it and you guys are going to ride with Daddy." Olivia tried coaxing. "Daddy's going to drive right behind me and we're all going home."

"But I don't wanna go with Daddy, I wanna go with you." Harper cried, tucking on her mother's shirt.

"It's okay, Princess, don't cry." Fitz interjected, knowing that Harper was beyond the point of rationalizing that the quick fifteen minute drive ended with everyone in the same place. "Go ahead and strap in. Mommy's going to drive my car and I'm going to drive her car okay?"

Harper looked between her parents as her mother lifted her into her booster seat.

"Don't leave in the other car, okay, Momma?"

"I'm not leaving, I'm just getting my purse and then I'll drive us home." Olivia murmured, shutting the door and linking hands with Fitz to make the short walk a few spaces down to get her belongings.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you're a pretty good mom and all. Your kids cry when you leave…I wish my children liked my wife half as much." Fitz joked, bumping her shoulder.

"Shut up."

Fitz snickered at her and backed her into the passenger door as the reached her car, kissing her lips softly. They stayed connected for a moment, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, his arms wrapped around her ass. His tongue brushed her lip making her pull away and then she sighed before speaking.

"I'm thinking about it." Olivia stated simply.

"What does that mean?"

Olivia raised her eyebrows at him until a look of understanding crosses his face.

"Oh, you're thinking about_ it_."

"Yes…_it_. I know Harper would love a girl to play with but what if we had another boy? Or, what if we do have a girl, then what about Gerry? Every way I think about it we end up with four kids."

Fitz's face lit up at the number.

"I am perfectly okay with four kids."

"I'm sure you are, you don't have to do any of the hard work." She grumbled. "I think that I was so nervous with Harper because she was our first and then I was worried with Gerry because I wasn't so great with Harper and now they're a little bit older and can tell me what's wrong and listen to directions and it makes me feel like we could do it again and be successful at it but none of those fears went away. I still feel like I may screw them up and that I should work less and go to more of those school meetings but it's not as bad as I thought it would be…I don't know. What do you think?"

Fitz took a moment to seriously think about her question, knowing that answering it flippantly wouldn't please her at all.

"I think that…I _know_ that you are an amazing mother and I don't worry one bit about you 'screwing up' our kids as you put it. You can take a while to think. I would prefer if we got these kids out of the way before I'm sixty but I want you to be sure. Plus, there's no harm in practicing until you decide. In fact, I rather enjoy practicing."

Olivia laughed at that and moved to grab her purse from the floorboard.

"Speaking of practicing, let's get the kids in bed and have some Mommy/Daddy time."

Fitz smirked at her as he watched her walk to his car. Olivia could feel his eyes on her scanning her from behind and sashayed a bit more to give him a better view, laughing to herself as she got into his car.

She turned around to check the backseat and couldn't help but smile, her heart beating faster at the sight of her children sleeping, their heads lolled on their respective windows but their hands interlocked on the middle seat.

'_It would be nice to have two more angels like them_.' She thought. '_To do everything the right way_.'

Olivia shook her head at the turn her thoughts had taken. She didn't think that she'd changed drastically in three years but here she was, three years after crying herself to sleep for weeks due to exhaustion and the fear of having another child, she was contemplating doing it all over again. _Twice_. That _had_ to signal some type of personal growth.

Or, maybe it was hormones that had her seriously considering starting over. Her breast ached and hadn't felt this heavy since she nursed, which was usually a sign that her period was coming but it didn't this time. The thought made her stomach turn. Being pregnant and trying to get pregnant were two different things.

Olivia looked up and caught Fitz's eye in the rearview mirror. The smirk that he sent her made her smile. She knew that he'd been pressing the baby issue because he suspected that she was pregnant and in denial and he was probably right. She sighed and looked back at the road.

"Here we go again."

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**Reviews are appreciated :-)**


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